For All The Times
by bigk4062
Summary: 3 months after a break up, Kaiba's ready to start over. Joey's not so sure


Joey walked into Yugi's house, placing down two grocery bags carefully. He quickly unpacked them, folding up the paper bags and stowing them away to be used again. Shaking his hair out of the ponytail he had put it in, he walked up front to see Yami standing behind the register, talking quietly to a customer who was hemming and hawing over several cards.

Joey waved at him before walking over to the back room, where Grandpa was working on arranging several boxes of cards that had come in shipment.

"Ah good, Joseph, help out an old man won't you?" He asked, handing Joey the box and pointing to a shelf.

"Gramps, I really wish you wouldn't put stuff up so high, what if Yami and I aren't around to help one day and you hurt yourself?" Joey asked him, easily placing the box where the old man had pointed.

"You two don't need to worry about me. I've managed just find by myself before, and I will continue to do so even if you're not around." Grandpa replied, smiling. He loved having Joey back in the house, the blond man's cheerful disposition made doing everything a bit easier. He pointed to another shelf, and Joey placed the last box on it, dusting off his hands as he did so.

"There's some mail on the counter for you if you didn't see it already." Grandpa informed him, stepping back to admire a job well done.

"Thanks Gramps." Joey said, bowing briefly to the old man before walking back into the shop. Yami was done with his customer, tidying up and placing back the items she hadn't wanted.

"Hey Joey, how did the hunt go?"

"Don't ask." Joey groaned, leaning over the counter and sighing dramatically. It had been almost 3 months since his big, public breakup with Kaiba, and Joey was still trying to get his feet on the ground. He had been applying for jobs all over the city, not hearing anything back. Same thing with apartments. Joey was beginning to think that his blue-eyed ex was having something to do with his complete lack of response to anything, He attempted to push that thought from his mind, not wanting to let Kaiba take  
up anymore of his headspace than he already was.

Walking back into the kitchen, Joey saw a couple of envelopes with his name on them. The first two were junk mail, quickly tossed out. The third he opened, pulling out a single sheet of paper, quickly reading it over before crumpling it into a ball. Stalking back into the shop, he glared, first at Yami, then at his Grandpa.

"Did either of you know about this?" He growled, tossing the crumpled up paper at Yami who blinked as he smoothed it out. Yugi choose this moment to walk into the shop himself, jumping back in surprise as Joey turned around to attack him. "How about you? Did you know your boss was going to do this?"

"Do what exactly Joey?" Yugi asked lamely, holding up his hands to defend himself from the irate blond. Yami was too busy studying the paper, trying not to laugh. It was a photocopied picture of Joey wearing that obnoxious dog costume of Duke's, with the words 'Lost Dog, if found please call owner for reward' and Kaiba's personal cell phone number hand-written underneath.

"You have to admire his creativity." Yami muttered to Grandpa, who was shaking his head over Yugi's shoulder. There was certainly no love lost between the old man and Kaiba, even though he had given the brunet several chances to redeem himself after tearing his Blue Eyes card. He had forgiven Kaiba for that, but the way the young man had behaved when he broke up with his grandson's best friend caused Grandpa to realize that he wasn't worth giving another chance too.

Given the way that Joey was ranting and raving about Kaiba at the moment, Joey wasn't too keen on him either. Yugi was trying to calm the blond down, placing his hands on the man's shoulders and getting him to breath.

"Joey, I promise, I knew nothing about this. What can I do to help you?" Joey stopped at that, looking back over at Yami and his Grandpa, shaking.

"Tell him the dog's found a better owner." He muttered, turning and marching back into the house to start dinner, leaving the three Muto's behind. Yugi sighed, walking over to kiss Yami before greeted Grandpa.

"Did you really not know about this Yugi?" Yami asked quietly, showing his other half the paper. Yugi shook his head, sighing.

"I don't work with Kaiba that much, you know that. Mokuba mentioned that his brother had been talking about Joey a lot lately, but we both figured it was just him blowing off some steam. He's been waiting for Joey to come crawling back again, but Joey's stayed away long enough that he's starting to get annoyed." Yugi informed the other two, looking over at the door that separated the shop and the house.

"Well, he might as well get used to it, Joey's pretty determined that he's not going back this time." Yami said, and Grandpa nodded in agreement.

"I know, but you try telling Kaiba he's not getting what he wants. The man is like…" Yugi waved a hand towards the flyer, and Yami couldn't help but smile.

"So what you're saying is that we have to button down the hatches and get ready for Storm Kaiba." He stated calmly, and Yugi nodded, sighing.

X

The next few days went by with no incidents, allowing everyone to take a breath. The peace was broken one afternoon when Joey was leaving a local eatery, talking to the manager and trying to convince her to give him a job. He had a little success, the woman agreeing to call his references before telling him to go.

Walking onto the sidewalk, he smiled when he saw that Serenity had texted him to call her. Quickly tapping redial he waited patiently, excited to be talking to his sister again. That was, until she answered the phone.

"Joey Wheeler, what are you thinking? How could you let yourself go through this again?" Serenity yelled, her voice so loud that Joey had to pull the phone away from his ear.

"Um, hello to you to sis. Mind telling me what you're yelling at me about?" Joey asked, arching his eyebrow.

"Like you don't know." Serenity yelled back, her voice lowering a smidge. The blond shook his head, going over in his mind anything he could have done that would have caused this kind of reaction from his sister.

"I came home to study between classes, and there is about 30 pots full of tulips in my room. The delivery guy told my roommate that they were from my brother's boyfriend, then he gave her a Hallmark card with a Blue Eyes on it!" Joey groaned, plopping down on a bench he found and rubbing his forehead.

"Ren, I'm sorry. I didn't know he was going to do that. We are not back together, I promise. I told you, I'm done with him. He's just acting like an ass because he thinks he can control me." Serenity sighed, looking around her room.

"Joey…"

"I know Ren. I'm not letting him. We just need to weather this storm for a little bit. He'll get bored and move on, and we can get back to normal."

"Ok big brother." She whispered, causing Joey to flinch, remembering how Mokuba would always say that to Kaiba when he would leave the older two boys alone.

"Hey, look on the bright side. At least you got something pretty to look at while you study for finals." Serenity smiled before sneezing.

"Maybe I'll give some to the girls down the hall, they might like them."

"Sounds like a good idea Ren. I love you."

"Love you too Joey, I'll see you when I'm off in a few weeks." She hung up, leaving Joey smiling. His sister always knew how to make him feel better, or when to kick his butt when he needed it. It was good to know he always had someone in his corner, no matter how stupid he got sometimes. Speaking of which… he quickly texted Yugi, asking what the family wanted for dinner before he stopped at the store.

Glancing over to the west, he looked up at Kaiba Corp tower (it wasn't hard to spot, being easily the tallest building in Domino) before turning east towards his home.

X

The next day Yugi came home with a peculiar look on his face, holding something in his hand. Joey knew by that look that it had something to do with Kaiba and he groaned.

"What's going on now?" He said, crossing his arms, glancing over at Yami who was standing at the register. Yugi held up a card, shaking his head at Joey.

"Kaiba just picked Duke's shop to run his new line through. He tried to do ours, but the board was concerned that it would look funny since I work there. He said that Duke's shop was the next closest thing."

"Sounds like a good thing for Dice Boy, I'm happy for him. That still don't explain the look on your face though."

"Joey, he only picked Duke's shop because Duke is your friend. He's doing it to smoke you out. Doing business with him means that you have two friends in direct contact with your ex. If he had been able to pick The Game Shop, you would have never gotten him out of here. He knows you Joey, if he's around enough, he knows he can wear you down."

"Well too bad he won't have the chance. I wouldn't sign that contract even if he had begged me." Grandpa announced, having overheard their conversation.

"Thanks Gramps, but you know the money would have been nice." Joey muttered, embarrassed.

"Money doesn't mean everything Joseph. If it did, I would have accepted it when Kaiba wanted to buy my Blue Eyes." Grandpa reminded him, wrapping an arm around Joey, who nodded quietly.

"Did Duke accept the offer?" Yami asked, and Yugi shook his head.

"He doesn't know about it yet. Kaiba is planning on going down to his shop tomorrow to discuss it with him."

"He should take it. Let Kaiba play his stupid little games., I'm out." With that he fake dusted off his hands and walked into the house, leaving the three Muto's in the shop.

X

2 weeks later, things were starting to look up. He had gotten a job, albeit a part-time one, but still, it was something. He had quite a bit of money stocked away thanks to Kaiba, and he just needed something to keep a cash flow until he got a better job.  
He worked the breakfast shift at the diner, and he really did enjoy making pancakes, waffles, and eggs for people. His co-workers were nice enough, even though sometimes things got said in the heat of the moment that made him wince.

Right now he was in the middle of finishing up a western omelet when Gina the owner came in. She waited for him to plate it before speaking. "There is someone here to see you."

Joey blinked at her in surprise, wondering who it could be. True, his friends had come in on his first day to wish him luck, but they had promised they wouldn't be bothering him at work. Serenity wasn't due back in town until Friday, and his father had no clue where he was working.

"He kind of looks like one of the Men in Black. You haven't seen any aliens running around have you?" She snickered, raising an eyebrow at Joey. The blond groaned, walking over to the kitchen door and peering out.

Sure enough, there was Roland, sitting at a bar stool by the counter, reading the paper and sipping on coffee.

"He came in almost 2 hours ago, said he was looking for you. I don't let people know what my staff's shifts are, but he knew your car. Asked if he could stay until you weren't busy, and I told him just as long as he wasn't in the way I didn't care. He actually got up and left a few times when it got busy and gave up his seat. Left Donna a nice tip too."

Joey stared at the body guard, frustration building up inside him. "Do you want me to ask him to leave? I didn't think he was hurting anything, but…"

Gina let her voice trail off, waiting for her employee to say something. "Nah, he's not doing anything. Tell him I get off in 20." Joey mumbled, turning and heading back to his station, washing his hands before looking at his next ticket.

Finally, he was done, and after quickly fixing himself a sandwich, he walked out, locking eyes with Roland before pointing towards a back table booth. They both sat down, Joey crossing his legs and digging into his sandwich while the other man studied him carefully.

"I see you still have appalling manners." The older man said dryly, causing Joey to smirk at him. Roland had been tasked with teaching Joey how to behave at the various benefits that Kaiba Corp ran, a task that had almost caused the body guard to quit. He could handle bullets, crazed fans, kidnappings, hell, even Kaiba himself, but teaching Joey manners almost broke him.

"Wouldn't want to disappoint you Roland. What are friends for?" Roland ignored Joey's quip, reaching into his pocket to produce an envelope.

"Mr. Kaiba wanted me to personally deliver this too you, and wait for a reply." He stated, handing the envelope to Joey, who took it warily.

"I apologize it took so look for you to get this, but I was unable to deliver it at your home." Roland stated, watching as Joey opened the envelope. Inside was a credit card, black with the words American Express typed on it.

"What the hell is this?" He questioned, and Roland smiled.

"Mr. Kaiba realizes that your break up has left you a little put out. He thought maybe he would help out with your expenses for a while, to help ease the transition." Joey's fist tightened around the card at Roland's words, trying not to swing at the older man.

"I don't need his money or his pity. Tell your boss to leave me and my friends alone." He attempted to snap the card, frowning as he failed.

"What is this thing made of?" Roland smiled, shaking his head.

"It's the American Express Centurion card Joseph. It's not made of plastic like you're used to." That made Joey frown even harder, running his fingers over the card looking for a weak spot. Roland slid out of the booth while Joey was fidgeting, disappearing out  
the door before the blond could react.

X

"I think Joey is going to kill Kaiba." Yugi whispered to Yami the next day, wringing his hands together nervously.

"I can't believe he gave Joey a card that costs thousands of dollars a year just to use." Yami muttered, shaking his head. Joey had marched into The Game Shop after his shift yesterday, muttered under his breath before pitching the card at Yugi's head and disappearing inside the house.

He still cooked dinner, sitting silently through the meal brooding while the other three attempted to come up with new topics to discuss. He disappeared back upstairs as soon as he could, refusing to come out when Yugi or Grandpa tried to speak to him.

Joey was up early for work the next morning, leaving before anyone else was starting their day.

"So what do we do? Just sit here and wait for something to happen?" Yugi questioned, looking at Yami with wide eyes. The former pharaoh shrugged, smiling a bit.

"Don't worry, I called in some reinforcements. They'll be here tomorrow."

"Please tell me you didn't call Mokuba." Yugi said, looking over at Yami with wide eyes.

"Nope. I told him I wouldn't get him involved, he's tired of all the drama as much as we are. I found someone better." Yami reassured Yugi, leaning down to kiss him before walking his lighter half towards the door.

"You'd better be right Yami." Yugi muttered, saying goodbye to Yami before disappearing out the door. Yami sighed, knowing that this was just the first round of the seemingly never-ending Joey/Kaiba saga.


End file.
